I've talked about this a couple of times before but we need to pay attention to this. Parents need to keep tract of medications in the home. Here is an article from the Windsor Star.
Teens raid medicine cabinet for parents' painkillers
More teens are taking powerfully addictive prescription painkillers like OxyContin than are smoking, according to an Ontario survey of students. As the smoking rate for teens in grades 7 to 12 has plummeted from about 35 per cent in 1979 to less than 11.7 per cent in 2009, the use of prescription opioids for non-medical use has risen in recent years to 17.8 per cent. It’s now the third-most popular substance behind alcohol (58.2 per cent) and marijuana (25.6 per cent). The increased use of prescription painkillers by teens follows the overall trend in Ontario, where the use of oxycodone — the active drug in OxyContin and Percoset — has risen 900 per cent since 1991. “It’s a very big problem,” said Teen Health Centre addiction counsellor David Hopkins, who has witnessed the rise in prescription drug abuse among teens. A larger percentage of girls (19.8 per cent) take them than boys (15.8 per cent), and their popularity rises as kids get older. Among Grade 7s, 9.2 per cent have used prescription opioids in the last 12 months. The percentage is 14.4 for Grade 8s, 19.2 for Grade 9s, 20.4 for Grade 10s and 21.3 for Grade 11s, before dipping to 19.5 for Grade 12s. They’re getting these opioids primarily from home, said Dr. Joanna Henderson, a psychologist with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. Parents have been prescribed these painkillers and the bottles are sitting in the medicine cabinet. “Kids hear that these substances will get them high,” said Henderson, who was in Windsor Tuesday speaking on the best strategies to deal with youth substance abuse. About 150 professionals who work with young people attended the talk, put on by CAMH and the Windsor-Essex Drug Strategy Implementation Group. The CAMH Ontario-wide survey, taken in 2009, shows about 23 per cent of students were sold, given or offered drugs in school. Kids are curious, so they will continue to experiment, said Henderson. And that’s why it’s important for a community like Windsor to develop a comprehensive strategy that includes prevention, early intervention and treatment, she said. Drug use among teens has been on the decline for years, for all drugs except prescription opioids. Between 1999 and 2009, use of alcohol dropped from 66 per cent to 58.2, heroin went from 1.9 to 0.7, methamphetamine went from five to 1.4, glue went from 3.8 to 2.1 and ecstasy went from six per cent in 2001 to 3.2 in 2009. Hopkins believes that the anti-drug message directed at teens has become more effective. “I think the prevention has gotten stronger, I think treatment has gotten better, but we’re still a long way away,” he said. Henderson said alcohol and marijuana are the substances used by most youth. Indeed, by the time they reach Grade 12, 83 per cent have consumed alcohol, 46 have taken marijuana and 48.5 per cent have engaged in binge drinking in the last year. Street drugs are used by a much smaller percentage of kids, so when developing a drug strategy with a big impact, you can’t ignore alcohol and marijuana use. Henderson stressed the importance of getting to kids early, long before they start experimenting with substances as teens. It’s tricky spotting signs of substance abuse in teens because it’s a time when children become more independent and talk more to their peers than parents, she said. There will be some shifts in your relationship with your child, but there should still be some “core pieces there.” If those core pieces disappear, “it’s important to explore it further.” And, she added, if anyone else expresses concern about your child’s substance use, take it seriously. Too often, she said, parents dismiss such information as “boys will be boys,” or “the school always hated my child.” Be concerned if your child isn’t coming home when expected, or appears to be intoxicated, or is talking in positive terms about getting drunk or high, she said. If, for example, he draws marijuana leaves on his school binder, you should consider yourself warned, said Henderson. “They clearly think that’s something positive.” © Copyright (c) The Windsor Star Read more: http://www.windsorstar.com/health/Ontario+teens+raid+medicine+cabinet+parents+painkillers/4247036/story.html#ixzz1DYXX1pNm
